jobs

Quit Unemployment and Start Freelancing

Unemployment rate is rising. For some reason I thought that unemployment shouldn’t happen at all.

After all, there are so many full time jobs being advertised on the internet and in the classifieds.

For some reason, there are so many people who are unemployed out there so why not take this chance to get into the freelancing industry?

After all, it is better than being unemployed.

It is not extremely easy to start freelancing but you have to start somewhere.

First, you need the right skills. Secondly, you need a computer or a laptop. Then, you need a job market.

Ask yourself:

“What can you do?”

Writing? Designing? Coding?

These are valuable skills in the freelancing world.

If you love to write, you might want to check out some revenue-sharing sites.

Submit your articles and earn royalties on your articles. You can even do this as a part time job.

Otherwise, you can check out freelance writing job sites.

Be sure to rate yourself reasonably. Check out the right rate for your work.

Once you have determined what you want to do, you should promote your service.

While you are doing freelancing, be sure to avoid scams.

Who knows freelancing might be your dream job?

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I have written a similar article. Check it out: Quit Your Job and Start Freelancing

Is Blogging a Freelance Writing Career?

Blogging is nothing new. Everyone is trying to make a quick buck through blogging. With Adsense and other advertising networks, it seems easy to earn passive income through blogging. However, only a few top notch bloggers can really earn a huge income from advertising.

Are you one of them?

If you are NOT, then you are just like everyone else, blogging for the fun of blogging (with the hope of earning a few dollars a day).

I love blogging too, as you can see (this is my blog). However, I have been thinking whether blogging qualifies as a form of freelance writing career.

Careers such as teaching and nursing are common but blogging?

Definitions of career:

  • the particular occupation for which you are trained
  • the general progression of your working or professional life; “the general had had a distinguished career”; “he had a long career in the law”
    wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Are we trained to blog? No, we learn on our own.

Are we earning from our blogs? Some do, some don’t.

I do hope that blogging can be expanded into a career, but for now, blogging is a hobby for me (and it earns peanuts for me to pay some bills).

What do you think?

Is blogging a career for you, or just a hobby?

Job Search Tips

We are now in 2010. If 2009 was such a challenging year, 2010 must be even more challenging. Whether you are looking for a job or not in 2010, these tips are definitely useful. You might want to take note for future reference.

1. Resume and Cover Letter Every Day

It is obvious that you need to send in your resume and cover letter to apply for a job. However, you will also need to send in your resume and cover letter on daily basis until you have found your dream job.

2. Online Networking

Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing or maybe even MySpace-ing. You need to expand your online networks. Networking is essential and helpful. You can get a job faster through online networking.

3. Emails

This is usually important for follow up. You need to follow up with your job applications. Get personal with the HR managers (don’t go overboard though).

4. Go Offline and Go Socialise

Why spend so much time online when going out might be the best idea to meet people (face to face). Meet more people, engage in conversations and you will be able to spread out a word about looking for a job. Sooner or later, you will find people recommending jobs for you.

5. Learn, learn and learn

There is something to learn everyday. What are you waiting for? Get started in learning!

6. Positivity

Keep a positive attitude and attract more people to get to know you better. From there, climb your way up through the career ladder.

Time to hit the job search websites (suitable for Malaysians).

20 Revenue Sharing Sites – Written Content

Revenue Sharing: People working together and registering online in a way similar to that of a corporation, and sharing the proceeds.

What you need to do?

Write content, submit content, wait for content to be reviewed and published, and earn royalties (Google Adsense) based on page views (different sites might have different methods to calculate the earnings).

There are 20 revenue sharing sites that are worth checking out.

It is time to earn some extra money.

If you know any other revenue sharing sites that are not in the list, feel free to add in the comment.

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1. Triond : I have talked about how you can make money with Triond.

2. Bukisa : Similar to Triond. Check out how you can make money with Bukisa.

3. Associated Content

4. Ehow.com : If you love to write how-to articles, this is your best choice.

5. Hubpages

6. Squidoo

7. Suite 101

8. Xomba

9. Thisisby

10. Pakt

11. About.com : If you are really good at certain topics, you can be a guide on About.com.

12. Helium

13. Oondi

14. LaunchTags

15. Scratch Projects

16. GreenDoc

17. Daytipper

18. MeshPlex

19. Digital Journal

20. SoftwareJudge

Note: 16.09.09 – Serena from RevShareSites shared a list of 52 (and growing) revenue sharing sites and information about each of them. Some of the sites are listed above. Others are unknown to me, but I guess it is worth checking out.

Update 29.12.09: Ryan from Info Barrel would like to add his site to the list. I have looked at the front page of the site. Look promising but you will have to learn more from his site.

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any wrong information listed on RevShareSites.

Q&A: Proof Reading, Copy Editing

It has been a while since I received any emails with questions.

However, Mandy left me a comment, which I think is more appropriate for me to answer openly so everyone else can learn.

Hi Sarah. My name is Mandy. I read your email this morning and am interested to know how I can find a job as a freelance proof reader/copy editor. I currently am doing this work from home for a publisher locally but the work is not consistent. I am a retired secretary by profession and have worked in various fields eg. legal, finance and trading. I am basically a multi task person.

Dear Mandy,

First of all, I have to say that I have no professional experience in proof reading or copy editing. Therefore, I won’t be able to provide an accurate answer to your question. However, since you are working for a local publisher, I am sure that many clients would love to hire you. After all, you have the experience they need.

However, the question you need to ask if, are you looking for jobs in Malaysia (only) or you would like to look for jobs internationally.

If you want to work for clients based in Malaysia only, the best place I can suggest is AsiaPartTime.

The only problem is, it is rather tricky to find direct proof reading / copy editing jobs because these jobs are usually compiled under ‘writing‘ category.

However, if you want to break through the international market, you can try these sites:

Get A Freelancer – Proof reading

Get A Freelancer – Editing

Elance – Proof reading

Elance – Editing

One problem with these sites is that you will have to place a bid, meaning it is not guaranteed you will get the work, but if you are good at what you are doing, then you are most likely to get a few shots.

Good luck!

Regards,